


fire alarms and dust explosions

by dcuros



Series: ShuAke Confidant Week 2k18 [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Goro goes to Shujin, M/M, ShuAke Confidant Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-02 01:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16295492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dcuros/pseuds/dcuros
Summary: Day 1 - FoodIn which Akechi needs some help with the upcoming school festival





	fire alarms and dust explosions

Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion and served with a special sauce and other additional toppings. Takoyaki is usually sold by street side vendors, but is also sold at booths during festivals, much like the one the Student Council was forced to set up to raise funds.

Unfortunately, the task of actually making the takoyaki falls to one overworked Vice President Goro Akechi. The same Goro Akechi who occasionally appears on live television, and yes, the very same one who triggers fire alarms just walking near a stove.

Goro also works as a detective; he gathers facts and fits them together to form one truth. And this problem, _this_ _case,_ the facts looks something like this: 

Exhibit A: a majority vote and an overwhelming demand for one Risette, budgets and ridiculously high appearance fees be damned;

Exhibit B: the state of the Student Council’s coffers— barren, as Treasurer Ishii practices for a future in public service, embezzlement and quiet disappearances into the night;

Exhibit C: Makoto’s sudden epiphany, wherein she realized that her lifelong dream was always to be a gopher for stupid teeny-bopper idols— at least according to Principal Kobayakawa anyway;

Which leaves exhibit D: Goro, the only one left to run the entire booth.

Even Sakamoto could predict the conclusion to this one: the inevitable (and literal) crash and burn as Akechi sets both the courtyard and his reputation on fire with his ineptitude.

He makes a plan. 

* * *

His plan involves one Akira Kurusu, part-time stalker and delinquent extraordinaire. To Goro’s dismay, Akira is all cheesy one-liners and stunning grey eyes— or so he likes to demonstrate during his frequent visits to the Student Council room. But he’s also a repertoire of weird skills backed by slender, proficient hands, and most importantly, Akira works at a cafe— in particular, the kind of cafe that serves actual food.

And like all of his plans, it goes off with every hitch.

“What do you mean you can’t cook? You can make curry. In fact, I saw you make this just now!” Goro gestures at the still-steaming plate Akira had placed down in front of him. Akira only grins at his little outburst and Goro barely quashes down the urge to reach over the counter and grab the barista by the collar.

“Well yeah, I don’t really know how to cook anything else. Sojiro’s still trying to teach me his recipe but I still get the spices wrong like, half the time, and making it too spicy.”

Goro’s spoon pauses on its way to his mouth, eyeing his glass of water and giving the curry a tentative sniff, before he starts to dig in. “I’m sorry for the trouble then, Akira-kun. I’m sure I can find someone else to teach me.”

“Senpai, it’s fine. Anyway, the ingredients look simple enough, but getting the shape right looks to be the hardest part. Look, the instructions on the internet look simple enough and-- ah, oops.” That’s all the warning Goro gets before 30,000 watts of phone screen stabs him right in the retinas. Who even turns up their phone brightness that high? Anyway, he doesn’t need eyes to see how Akira rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. And with the way his voice lowers, resonating through the hollows of Goro’s chest, he doesn’t need eyes either to see the teasing smirk painted across his pretty, pretty face. “No worries, though, I’ve been told I’m good with my hands.”

Yep. Not when he says embarrassing shit like that.

Fighting down a blush that rivals Akira’s phone screen, his eyes recover just in time to meet Akira’s. Big mistake. He can’t refuse now, not with the way the barista's usual impassive face shined with the eagerness of the world’s loneliest kitten presented with its first ever friend. “T-thank you again, Akira-kun.” Goro coughs, clearing his throat. “I’ll take you up on your offer then. At the very least, you can call the fire department for me if I pass out from the smoke.”

Akira has the gall to wink at him. “Where should we do this then? My place or yours?” He casually dodges the napkin Goro aims at his head. “Sorry, sorry. We can’t really use Leblanc’s kitchen. Can we use the one in your apartment?”

“Actually, we can probably borrow the home ec room at school. It should be free since the cooking club hasn’t planned any activities for the festival.” Goro replies, paying for his meal and picking up his bookbag. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Akira-kun.”

 

The air shimmers, the afternoon light glinting off of their very own (and very warm) diamond dust, as flour floats in the air before falling and dusting every available surface in the home ec room. Two boys pant for breath, sitting cross-legged on the floor and leaning against a cupboard and maybe a little on each other.

It’s hard to breathe, with the air so thick with flour and dust. Even the tiniest spark could set off an explosion.

Unfortunately, local house fire Goro Akechi is on the scene.

“You!” He wheezes as dust takes advantage of the opening to assault his lungs. Akira rubs his back gently while Goro tries to wipe takoyaki sauce off of his face with his hand and onto the hideous apron Akira forced on him. He wrinkles his nose when he finds it equally splattered with sauce and mayonnaise from their impromptu food fight. He settles on wiping his hand over a clean spot on Akira’s just-as-hideous apron. “Y-you..! We were supposed to be practicing!”

Akira, ever the smug bastard, only laughs. “Hey, you managed not to burn anything today, and we managed to get these things vaguely spherical. I think that’s as good as we’re gonna get, senpai.”

Goro huffs, standing briefly to retrieve a batch of takoyaki from the table before plopping back down to his earlier position. He brushes off the excess flour that landed on the food, and pops one into his mouth. He chews thoughtfully, “I suppose you’re right. I can’t say much about the shape, but these do taste quite delicious.”

Akira bumps their shoulders together, his grey eyes hooded and hooking in Goro’s red. “I’d like a taste too, Goro-senpai.”

Goro sighs fondly, shoves another piece between his teeth and lets himself be pulled in.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~I do not advise eating takoyaki like they do. It will **burn**.~~
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> Let's start this week off with something nice and cheesy~. 
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> Definition of takoyaki at the start was derived from the Wikipedia article. 
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> Anyway, thanks for reading! Feel free to comment if I missed anything or yell at me on twitter @[hereliesandy](https://twitter.com/hereliesandy).


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